News & Articles

The Courage to Journey Within I have always held a great deal of respect for adventurers and explorers, those who willingly head out into the unknown to find what might be found Out There. Tales abound about the exploits of heroic travelers and their discoveries,...

Solitude or Isolation? I was reflecting recently about two significant experiences in my life and what they taught me about the difference between solitude and isolation. About the only thing these two terms have in common is that they contain in their meaning the...

Not So Friendly Fire Some days are relatively peaceful and uneventful, and some days not so much. For instance, I was still half asleep in front of the television late one night when I heard a sharp “bang!” that sounded far more ominous than a gate being...

Good Grief! In another of my Doc’s Corner missives (The Courage to Journey Within) I described the importance of taking a good look inside oneself (without guilt or shame!) to understand what was happening in your thoughts, feelings and attitudes. One of the...

Gentle Strength One of my favorite sayings is, “There is nothing as strong as gentleness, and nothing as gentle as true strength.” Though I came across that saying for the first time later in my life, I discovered its meaning long ago, during the first...

Flight Attitude and Other Important Considerations About two weeks into my tour in Vietnam, the pilot came over the radio to say, “Don’t be putting any rounds into my wing tank, Doc.” I thought at first that he was ribbing me as the only non-Marine...

Family Ties Having survived training to become a Fleet Marine Corpsman, I was assigned in 1970 to the medical dispensary of the small helicopter base at Camp Pendleton. There were a handful of UH1E gunships (Hueys) and a few OV-10 Broncos (fixed wing close air support...

Call It Courage I became aware of something today that I had not noticed before. I was wandering through the riverside woods for my usual early morning walk with Sofie, enjoying the peaceful quiet of the forest near my home. I was reflecting on how I have much less...

A New Definition of Success Are you successful? Your answer will depend, I believe, on the standards or criteria you use to compare yourself to others. Unfortunately, many people in our country define success in purely materialistic terms. Here’s a list of some...

Swing Low, Sweet Chariot It was after midnight, I’m sure. That’s about all I was certain of concerning orientation to the time/space continuum of the moment. Fortunately, the pilots up front knew where we were and where we were going and what we might find...